More than a century has passed since Thorvald Willadsen discovered the presence of the JRSV-CAMV-23 virus in deep-sea monsters. Hundreds of different strains and variants of the virus have been found all over the world. Given the virus’ rate of mutation, it is inevitable that one day it will once again cause a worldwide pandemic similar to the First Plague, the Second Plague, and the Great Death.

—Knud Borch, “Mechanisms of viral mutation”

Asteria

I was dreaming of soft, white sand under my bare feet. The sun was setting in a glorious blaze of pinks, oranges, and violets. My little sister was walking beside me.

“Why worry? Do it own time, own target, okay?” she said.

How nostalgic. I’ve missed Singlish.

“Okay,” I said. She was right. I should do things at my own pace. “Take care of our parents for me.”

“Who else? Can you not be so kaypoh?” she said.

“You’re kaypoh!”

“Kaypoh Queen!”

I’d almost forgotten that was what she used to call me. I had to admit I was the queen of busybodies back then. Maybe I still was?

“Looks like she’s waking up,” said my sister.

“What? Who?”

Then she went away. I opened my eyes.

“Are you awake?”

I couldn’t focus my eyes to see who was talking, but I knew that voice. Damn it, Magnus! Wait for a girl to wake up first. I had the mother of all headaches, and every part of my body seemed to be sending pain signals to my brain.

“Does it hurt? Do you want painkillers?” said someone else.

I didn’t recognize the voice, but painkillers sounded like a great thing.

“Yes,” I croaked out.

Magnus’ blurry face became clearer, and I saw that I was in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. A man in a white coat used a syringe to inject something into my veins that made the pain go away.

“Magnus?” My throat hurt, but I couldn’t remember what I was doing here.

“It’s my turn to rescue you,” said Magnus. “You’re safe.”

I must have slept again after that because I didn’t remember anything else happening. This time there were no more dreams.

***

Waking up was a slow process. The first thing I became aware of was my aching lower back. I shifted my legs a little to try to get rid of the stiff feeling in my body before opening my eyes.

Seraphiel was bending over me, brow furrowed and the corners of his lips turned down. Memory returned in a rush. I looked around for the others, but there was no one except for Seraph, a doctor, and a nurse.

The same doctor who had taken care of me when I collapsed from using the legendary shield artifact came over and examined me.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked Seraphiel. He was in his uniform, looking neat as usual. I didn’t recognize the dress I was wearing, and my hair was a mess.

“Everyone’s fine,” said Seraphiel.

“Tsk, tsk. You should take better care of yourself, young lady,” said the doctor. I still didn’t know his name. “Open your mouth.”

He inserted a thermometer under my tongue. The nurse quietly left while the doctor was examining me. In a few minutes, I could hear voices coming from the corridor outside.

“Do you think she’ll like it?” That was Katja’s voice.

“I’m sure she will. Girls like flowers, right?” That was Oren.

Oren, Katja, Sofia, Ravn, and Israfel came to visit me together with a woman I didn’t know. The whole gang crowded inside the hospital room, chattering away about what had happened after I lost consciousness. The doctor had told them that I was almost about to wake up, so they’d all been in the waiting room. I got a very nice flower basket from Sofia who shyly mumbled her greeting to me in a voice almost too soft to hear.

They took turns telling me about how we’d been abducted by Doctor Greve to use in his experiments. So much for being prepared! The tranquilizer was a harmless one, so my automatic spell defenses hadn’t been triggered, especially since Freja hadn’t meant to hurt me. I’ll have to remember to fix that oversight in the future.

I’d been knocked out the whole time, but the rest of them had some grisly stories about the mad scientist’s plans.

“Wait, did you find the information about your sibling? What did Magnus say?” I asked Oren. The hero was looking relaxed and happy today. He’d ditched the black shirts and pants for a blue T-shirt and blue jeans, and he was standing very close to Sofia.

“Yes, they let me into Doctor Greve’s secret laboratory, and I found his files,” said Oren.

“Oh my gosh, don’t keep me in suspense! What did you find?” I said.

“My father’s first wife died after giving birth, probably because they used her for experiments while she was pregnant. You know they used a virus in the EL process? They injected the fetus with it.”

“Kraej scientists!” said Ravn. Like Oren and Sofia, Ravn and Katja were standing very close to each other. Ravn was in dark blue leathers while Katja was in a cute cream-colored dress I’d never seen before. It must be new.

“When she died, they dumped her body in the abandoned mine and put the baby in the EL Project orphanage,” said Oren.

“Poor woman,” I said. I reached out a hand to Sofia. “Let’s hold a prayer service for her.”

Sofia took my hand and squeezed it, saying, “Yes, we should. And we all need to thank the goddess for the miracle that saved you.”

Oh! I'd expected them to ask me how I survived the bullet in the head, but it seemed that they assumed that it was a miracle. That made sense because who else but the goddess could turn back time?

“I don’t know how that happened…” I lied.

“Did you have anything on you? Like something you picked up that looked special? It could’ve been one of those legendary artifacts,” said Sofia.

Thanks for the suggestion, Sofia.

I made a show of looking through my pockets, forgetting that I was wearing clothes that the hospital had provided for me. A nurse helpfully handed over a box containing my belongings. I rooted through it and said, “Huh? Everything seems to be here except for a pretty crystal I found when I was in Godeke.”

“I bet that was it,” said Sofia.

I was lying, of course. The others looked dubious, but no one said anything.

“Whatever it was, I’m just glad you’re okay,” said Oren. “Completing my quest isn’t worth your life.”

Wait, wasn't Oren's mission to find out what happened to his father's former wife and her child?

“What happened to the baby?” I asked.

Everyone except for Oren looked at Seraphiel.

Oren looked down at his boots and cleared his throat. “He, uh, survived.”

I gave Seraphiel a questioning look. He shrugged. The EL had looked bored and impatient all throughout the conversation.

“Just tell her that Seraph’s your brother already!” said Katja.

Oren smiled sheepishly.

“No way!” I said. “You don’t even look alike.”

“We have different mothers,” said Oren. “I take after mine, and I guess Seraph looks like his.”

My mouth hung open as I kept looking back and forth between Oren and Seraphiel. I couldn’t see any similarities no matter how I looked. I don’t think this bit of backstory was in “Tales of Vesterland,” but it did make sense thematically to have brothers who were the hero and villain.

Katja sidled over to Oren and elbowed him so hard he staggered.

“Tell her the other news!” said Katja, who was really acting hyper today.

“What news?” I asked when Oren remained mute. He’d turned red.

Sofia coughed and turned our hands over until I could see the ring on her finger.

I screamed. “You’re getting married!”

Katja walked over to me and showed me her ring, too.

I put a hand on my chest. This was getting too exciting for me. I said, “You’re both getting married!”

The three of us started hugging and squealing. The woman whom I didn’t know looked disgusted by our antics and tried to leave, but Israfel pulled her to his side.

“This is my girlfriend, Freja,” said Israfel.

Freja was an Amazonian blonde beauty taller than Israfel. I remembered her from the game. She was the sniper! I instantly quieted down and asked, “Who shot me?”

“Alfred,” said Israfel.

“Oh,” I said. That was unexpected. “Why would he do that?”

Freja spoke for the first time. Her voice low and throaty, she said, “That’s classified information.”

Never mind. I’d get it out of Magnus later. Based on what I knew from the game, perhaps Alfred needed Dr. Greve to treat him since the assassin was suffering from a degenerative disease? Maybe Alfred decided to kill me rather than turn me over to Dr. Greve. I seemed to recall he had a soft spot for women. That didn’t stop him from killing them, of course, but he did it as painlessly as he could.

“That’s fine. I’d rather hear about your wedding plans anyway,” I said to the girls.

“We haven’t made any plans yet,” said Sofia.

“Ravn and I are getting married next spring,” said Katja. “We should do a double wedding.”

We talked about their upcoming weddings until the doctor came and shooed them away.

“The patient needs her rest. Come back tomorrow during visiting hours,” said the doctor.

“Tomorrow? I want to leave today,” I said. “Where are Uriel and Sariel?”

“They’re at work,” said Seraphiel. “They should be here in a few minutes.”

“No, I’m taking her to the lab right now for a scan,” said the doctor. He was a fierce one.

“Another scan? Why do you have to bombard my body with anima every time I’m sick? I’m alright,” I said.

“Do what the doctor says,” said Seraphiel, massaging his temples as though he had a headache.

“Can I least shower first?” I asked the doctor.

“We have to get you scanned in five minutes. The anima scanner was fully booked, so the staff had to reschedule an entire day’s worth of appointments to make room for you,” said the doctor.

And that was that. The nurse came in to wheel me into the lab with Seraphiel following behind us. I resigned myself to my fate since it was obvious that this was going to be a long day of lab tests and scans.

“Candy?” I looked up at Seraphiel pleadingly.

After glancing at the doctor for approval, Seraphiel placed one piece of wrapped candy in my hand.

“Thanks.” I reached up and tugged on Seraphiel’s hair until he bent down low enough for me to whisper in his ear. “I told you not to come near me until my quest was finished. I’ll punish the three of you later.”

Seraphiel’s pouting face was really adorable.